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Ever Seen an American Indian Ceremonial Dance?
I got a chance to see a Yaqui Deer Dance last year. There was an Indian Arts Fair last November and we went to check it out. The Artistic Director of the Fair was classical guitarist Gabriel Ayala who is Yaqui himself. He said that Indian dancing had become sort of homogenized and he wanted people to see what a real ceremonial dance looks like. The Yaqui are not as secretive as some tribes and as long as you're not snapping pictures or disrupting things, they don't mind spectators. The official name of the Yaqui tribe in Arizona is Pascua Yaqui. They are called that because of their Easter Ceremonial, Pascua means Easter in Spanish. Like many Mexican tribes, the Yaqui embraced Catholicism and their Easter Ceremonial is a mixture of European and Indian traditions. We had been to see part of that ceremony years ago, but we didn't see the Deer Dance, which starts around midnight and goes on all night long.
Before I describe the dance, you might be wondering what a tribe from Mexico is doing in Arizona. They're refugees. The Rio Yaqui is the largest river system in Sonora and rivers in Sonora are prime real estate. Here's "Big Jim" Griffith from his 1988 book, Southern Arizona Folk Arts:
Yaqui Indians came to southern Arizona as political refugees. They had been defending their Sonoran homeland in the lower valley of the Rio Yaqui about three hundred miles south of the present international border since they turned back Diego de Guzman's slave-raiding expedition in 1533. So well did they maintain the integrity of their sacred homeland against Spanish and, later Mexican invaders that it was not until the late nineteenth century that their position finally became desperate. By then they were facing the full economic and military power of Porfirio Diaz's Mexico. Yaqui territory was rich farmland, and the Yaquis were standing in the way of economic progress. A program of Yaqui extermination was proposed and attempted, and hundreds of Yaquis were captured and deported to other parts of Mexico as slave laborers. Hundreds more responded to this crisis by fleeing to the United States between 1890 and 1915. This is the origin of Arizona's Yaqui communities.
The Deer Dance, like all Yaqui ceremonials, is presided over by a
pascola, the "old man of the fiesta."
He wears a distinctive small wooden mask, and around his calves are strings of dried cocoons from the giant silk moth that rattle when he steps. The ceremonial alternates between two different types of dance, a sacred and a secular. The mask tells the spectators which is being performed. When the
pascola has the mask on the side of his head it's the secular dance, when he turns it to cover his face it's time for the serious, sacred dance. Each dance has a different group of musicians and different music. For the secular dance the instruments are a violin, a Mexican folk harp and a guitar. The music is Mexican folk music and sounds a bit like Norteño. During this part of the ceremony the
pascola engages the audience and jokes around, always dancing in place, shaking his leg rattles to the beat. When he turns his mask to the front, a different group of musicians plays and the serious stuff starts, the part that the people have done since before the Spanish came, with their violins, their harps and their Catholic Church.
The traditional musicians are drummers, a flute player, who also drums, and a singer. The drummers play "water drums." These are dried gourds, hemispheres, that are held open side down in tubs of water. When they are struck the water in the tubs reverberates. There were three of these at the dance we saw. The flute player plays a long, thin three-hole reed flute and at the same time hits a skin drum that looks like a tambourine with no cymbals, which he holds sideways on his knee. The singer sings traditional songs in the Yaqui language in a high-pitched droning style. As the musicians begin to play the Deer Dancer, the star of the show, gets into character.
The Deer Dancer is bare-chested. He wears a loin cloth and has the same dried moth cocoons on his legs as the pascola. He has gourd rattles in his hands and on the top of his head is a small deer's head, decorated with red ribbon. He has white cloth under the deer's head which is pulled down tight, almost covering his eyes. As the music plays he stands still and concentrates. It look like he is trying to become the deer. Then he starts to move a bit, hesitantly at first. He moves likes deer, small head movements, small steps, one foot at a time. Soon he's dancing confidently. He shakes his rattles and shuffles his feet, and then it's over. There's a short interval, the pascola moves his mask to the side of his head, the folk musicians begin to play. The sacred musicians relax, have a smoke, and talk among themselves or to friends among the spectators. The version we saw was just a presentation, maybe 10 minutes of each type of dance. In a real Yaqui ceremonial the dances alternate all night long, with different songs each time. I'm sure I haven't described it correctly but this is what I remember and I'm glad I had a chance to see it.
Have you ever seen an American Indian ceremonial dance?
Do you know what tribes live near you?
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THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY
by Thinking Fella ♥ for Four Corners Kossacks
On Saturday, November 8th, 2014, the Four Corners Kossacks met to have a beverage or two, lament our electoral losses, cheer our wins, get updates on races still ongoing, listen to past local election history, learn more about each other, and plot our future strategies.
L-R: Thinking Fella, Matt S., (McLachlan campaign manager) red moon dog, nzanne, Gary Norton, Wally White, (termed-out former La Plata County Commissioner & long-time Dailykos lurker) and Jeff H.
Please visit Thinking Fella's diary for more photos! Enjoy! You can still REC it. You can join Four Corners Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to Thinking Fella.
by John Crapper ♥ for Seattle and Puget Sound Kossacks
Four days after the mid-term elections Seattle & Puget Sound Kossacks had lunch with Representative Joe Fitzgibbon, WA 34th, Chair of the Environment Committee and serving on the Finance, Transportation and Local Government Committees.
Special thanks goes to bleeding blue for making this all possible!
Invited attendees: Marcee Stone-Vegich - Chair of the 34th LD & Ted Barker Vice Chair, Robin Everett - Washington State's Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign Coordinator and Mary Manous with Weldon DeBusk both on the development team creating the Cascadia Climate Action Calendar which compiles monthly the events and actions of all major environmental groups in the Puget Sound Area.
My take-away as leader of Seattle & Puget Sound Kossacks from this meeting. Political reality can't be changed. We must deal with it as best we can. We must also support those fighting for climate sanity as best we can. But when it comes to climate change we cannot afford to wait on politics to be "right" to get something done. We can't afford to just chip away at the edges. We need to pursue the most effective path possible to make climate sanity a reality. Under current circumstances politics may not be that path in the next two years in Washington State.
Instead it will be the Climate Action Hub. And in my neck of the woods it will be promoting the Cascadia Climate Calendar and urging people to get involved.
Please visit
John Crapper's diary for more photos! Enjoy! You can still REC it. You can join
Seattle and Puget Sound Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to
John Crapper.
by cooper888 ♥ for Sacramento Kossacks
We heard from navajo and Meteor Blades about the initiative by Daily Kos to have active Kossack groups in each of the state capitals. DK is looking for engaged Kossack's ready to roll up their sleeves and participate in many different types of activism/advocacy. For example, delivering petitions to the state capitol, participating in various protests, marches, rally's at the capitol, etc. As Meteor Blades pointed out this won't happen over night and is a long term strategy but I think if we all take the lead in our respective states we can make this dream happen sooner than DK leadership expects.
L-R: Front row: Sychotic1, tgypsy, tb92, trevizolga, Mrs. side pocket. Second row: Arundsdel (sp?), Laurel in CA, Kestrel, Meteor Blades. Third row: Kestrel's two friends, smileycreek, paradise50, Dave. Back row: Clif, Mr. Arundsdel, Neil, cooper888, side pocket, Left foot forward, got mooned & Nate
Please visit cooper888's diary for many MORE photos! Enjoy! You can still REC it. You can join Sacramento Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to cooper888.
Event Organizers! Please contact wink from Netrootsradio.com by KosMail to schedule airtime with them to live broadcast the date of your Event. Wink & Justice will then promote it on The After Show radio program!
Tuesday, December 2nd
Maryland Kos Post-election Meet-up
TIME: 6:30 PM
LOCATION: Sabatino's
901 Fawn Street • Baltimore
ORGANIZER: Send Navy Vet Terp a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. Navy Vet Terp
2. vschultzvidal
3. mimi
4. rb608
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Maybees: |
Latest diary: Maryland Kos Meetup - Baltimore Subgroup
Saturday, December 6th
Houston Area Kossacks Meet-up
TIME: 1:00 PM
LOCATION: Cafe Express
3800 Southwest Freeway • Houston
ORGANIZER: Send [organizer's linked user name] a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. Chrislove
2. nomandates
3. cosette
4. scott5js
5. Blood
6.
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Maybees:
Mr. cosette
MarciaJ720
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Latest diary: Houston Area Kossacks: RSVP for our December 6 meet-up!
Saturday, December 6th
Four Corner Kossacks Ride the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
This train is extra special. Not only are the cars over 100 years old, the coal-fired steam locomotive pulling us up the mountain was built in the early 1920's. We'll be riding in the "Cinco Animas" car (built in 1883), which, as would be expected for Kossacks--is a Presidential Class car. See diary for many more details.
TIME: 9:15 AM
LOCATION: Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
479 Main Ave • Durango
ORGANIZER: Send Thinking Fella a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. Thinking Fella
2. HeroMachine
3. LucyTooners
4. Mr. LucyTooners
5. unfangus
6. Mrs. unfangus
7. Darcy
8. Kim
9. Nan
10. Allison M.
11. Tom M.
12. ERRN
13. ERRN's guest
14. ⇐Cinco Animas car filled
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Maybees:
Gary Norton
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Latest diary: EPIC Four Corners Kossacks Meet-up: Gonna Ride the D&SNGR Presidential Car to 9000' Elevation!
Saturday, December 6th
Colorado COmmunity Meet-up with Caffeinating Liberally
TIME: 9:00 AM
LOCATION: Common Grounds
44th & Vallejo • Denver
ORGANIZER: Send Leftcandid a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. Leftcandid
2.
3.
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Maybees:
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Wednesday, December 10th
Colorado COmmunity Meet-up with Drinking Liberally
TIME: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: Three Dogs Tavern
32nd & Julian • Denver
ORGANIZER: Send Leftcandid a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. Leftcandid
2.
3.
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Maybees:
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Latest diary: DENVER: Caffeinating & Drinking Liberally, December Editions COming Right Up!
Wednesday, December 10th
Kansas Kossacks Meet-up Focused on Johnton County, What's Next?
TIME: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: Overland Park Doubletree Hotel
10100 College Boulevard • Overland Park
ORGANIZER: Send tmservo433 a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. tmservo433
2.
3.
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Maybees:
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Latest diary: Overland Park, KS Kossack Meetup December 10
Thursday, December 11th
Kansas Kossacks Meet-up Focused on McPherson County, What's Next?
TIME: 7:00 PM
LOCATION: Senior Center (location may change)
116 S Main St • Lindsborg
ORGANIZER: Send tmservo433 a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. tmservo433
2. CWinebrenner
3. sandzen
4.
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Maybees:
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Latest diary: Connect! Unite! Act! Meeting in Wichita, KS November 24
Saturday, December 13th
SF Kossacks Holiday Party at Daily Kos HQ
The usual Pot Luck drill
TIME: 6:00 PM
LOCATION: Daily Kos HQ
Address given privately by kosmail • Berkeley
Near Ashby BART
ORGANIZER: Send navajo a kosmail to attend
- POTLUCK SIGNUP -
HQ will be providing the main course of our buffet:
• White bean sausage cassoulet
• Marinated chicken skewers
Vegetarian options:
• Butternut squash with farro, parmesan, spinach and onion
• Ratatouille with polenta squares
Please volunteer for beverages, side dishes & desserts needed below.
Beverages:
20 bottles of wine [15 complete (navajo, smileycreek, enhydra lutris, glescagal, side pocket)]
16 six-packs of beer [8 complete (paradise50, 714day, side pocket, jotter)]
8 six-packs soft drinks [8 complete (linkage)]
4 six-packs non-corn syrup soft drinks [0 complete]
4 six-packs diet drinks [0 complete]
6 six-packs bottles of water [1 complete (sfbob)]
Appetizers:
8 appetizers, anything goes here. Whatcha' got? [3 complete (jforests, boatsie, side pocket)]
Side Dishes:
6 green salads needed, each to feed 10 [4 complete (jforests, Lorikeet, ceebee7, remembrance)]
4 (10-12 pcs) dinner roll sets, plus butter cubes [0 complete]
Desserts:
6 hand-held desserts (dozen each) [4 complete (syd, norm, gmats, jpmassar)]
70 paper plates [jakedog42 & susans]
70 dessert plates [jakedog42 & susans]
70 appetizer plates [jakedog42 & susans]
140 cocktail napkins [jakedog42 & susans]
70 dinner napkins [jakedog42 & susans]
100 plastic forks [jakedog42 & susans]
70 plastic knives [jakedog42 & susans]
100 clear plastic beverage cups [jakedog42 & susans]
RSVPs:
1. Markos
2. Will Rockafellow
3. Susan Gardner
4. Meteor Blades
5. Faith Gardner & Roxie!
6. navajo - 4 bottles red wine
7. side pocket - 2 6-pks beer, 2 bottles of wine, pesto-stuffed mushrooms
8. Mrs. side pocket
9. smileycreek - 1 bottle red, 1 white wine
10. paradise50 - 1 six-pack beer
11. remembrance - gobi aloo, vegetarian
12. Glen The Plumber - apparently, nothing...
13. TLO
14. jakedog42* - plates, cups, napkins & utensils
15. edrie
16. dharmasyd* - brownies
17. catilinus
18. boatsie - Cowgirl Creamery cheeses & crackers
19. liberated spaces
20. citisven
21. kimoconnor
22. susans* - plates, cups, napkins & utensils
23. maggiejean
24. 714day* - 3 six packs of beer
25. Steven Payne
26. scaboni
27. skywriter
28. jpmassar - dessert
29. jotter - case of IPA
30. aha aha
31. jeremybloom
32. norm* - sugar-free cake
33. Lorikeet* - vege salad
34. cooper888
35. got mooned
36. Hunter
37. elfling
38. Cassia
39. Friend of elfling
40. Friend of elfling
41. Friend of elfling
42. Friend of elfling
43. tmservo433
44. Simplify
45. jforests* - greek salad, cheese ball appetizer/crackers
46. jforests SO and baby girl
47. Brian82
48. ceebee7* - green salad
49. Elisa +Ari & Eli
50. jglass
51. jglass's wife + 2 sons (6,9)
52. Walter + toddler
53. Denise
54. Denise's teen
55. Michaela
56. enhydra lutris - 3 bottles wine
57. enhydra lutris's SO
58. Bonnie
59. gmats* - brownies/cookies
60. linkage - soft drinks
61. sfbob - bottled water
Maybees:
Thinking Fella
LaughingPlanet
Mark
LinSea
*address given
Sunday, December 28th
Koscadia Meet-up with navajo & Pipe Ceremony with Ojibwa to Bless Quilts
TIME: 2:00 PM
LOCATION: Private home
[Kosmail Sara R for the address] • Portland
ORGANIZER: Send Sara R to attend
RSVPs:
1. navajo
2. Ojibwa
3. Sara R
4. winglion
5. Angie in WA State
6. loggersbrat
7. llbear
8. Drewid
9. also mom of 5
10. watercarrier4diogenes
11. ozsea1
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Maybees:
exlrrp
quill
pdxteacher
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Latest diary: Koscadia Meet Up 12/28 -- special guests navajo and Ojibwa
Saturday & Sunday, January 17-18, 2015
Dkos Asheville 24-hour Meet-up
This is what community is about; sharing, giving, creating together. And this is what being a progressive is about; working for social, economic, and environmental justice.
Each day we start from where we are now; and we move forward from here. -davehouck
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...we have built ourselves a network of like minded brothers and sisters who are in this fight for life. A place we can come to find inspiration, power, solace and community.
-randallt |
TIME: 1:00 pm Saturday till 1:00 pm Sunday
LOCATION: Crown Plaza Resort Asheville
One Resort Drive • Asheville
ORGANIZER: Send randallt a kosmail to attend
RSVPs:
1. randallt
2. davehouck
3. Joieau
4. Gordon20024
5. SteelerGrrl
6. SteelerGuy
7. LamontCranston
8. Otteray Scribe
9.
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Maybees:
Joy of Fishes
IamGumby
smiley7
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Latest diary: DKos Asheville: Open Thread
navajo maintains the above event list. Kosmail her if you have any diaries
about your event or if you have changes or additions.
EVERYONE is welcome, tell us what you're working on,
share your show and tell, vent, whatever you want.
This is an open thread. Nothing is off topic.